Neil Gorsuch wrote his first decision as a Supreme Court Justice and took the opportunity to define the reach of the court. Gorsuch acknowledged that the debt collection business had evolved since the Fair Debt Collection Act was passed by Congress in 1977. That business “evolution” may be a good reason for Congress to revisit and update the law. “It’s hardly unknown for new business models to emerge in response to regulation, and for regulation in turn to address new business models,” Gorsuch wrote.
However, until such time as Congress changes the law, “it is never our job to rewrite a constitutionally valid statutory text under the banner of speculation about what Congress might have done had it faced the question that, on everyone’s account, it never faced,” he wrote. The proper role of the judiciary is to apply, not amend, the work of the people’s representatives.” In the unanimous decision. SCOTUS decided companies who buy debt are excluded from the restrictions imposed by the 1977 law, which was meant for the “repo man.”
